Chapter One

"Kihei! If you wouldn't mind, would you be able to bring me back some ginger root while you're out? I'd be very appreciative of it!"

Kihei stopped in his tracks, spinning around in a wobbly sort of way to face the woman that had addressed him. "Of course, Suzuki-san! It's no problem at all! It's what my pouch is for, after all! I'll be back by nightfall, and I'll bring plenty of ginger root back for you!"

Suzuki laughed, a wrinkly smile lighting up her old face. "Thank you very much. I'll have a basket of peaches waiting for you."

"Great! See you then!" Kihei spun back around carefully and hobbled off through the bamboo that surround the small village he resided in, aptly named Bamboo Village.

Life in Bamboo Village was peaceful, and those that lived there had never known the pain and destruction of war. Mifune Kihei himself had only faced the hardships of life in a shinobi village, when he'd been sent as a messenger for the village head and had been caught up in the middle of a brutal battle that had cost him both an arm and a leg.

Despite that, he was as happy as he had been before the incident, never even holding any grudge against the shinobi that were to blame for the loss of his limbs.

Now past the thick shield of bamboo that hid the Bamboo Village from sight, Kihei made a beeline for the place he knew that ginger grew, as well as several other useful herbs that had both cooking and medicinal uses.

Limping as quickly as he could, he made it to the grove where each herb grew in abundance. Kihei made sure to visit every other day or so to tend to the herbs, as they had become a main staple of the village, since it was so far away from the larger villages.

Kihei reached down for the wire attached to his prosthetic that allowed him to bend his artificial knee, and pulled it carefully, dropping into a crouch. He leaned down over one of the ginger plants and removed a small knife from his pouch, setting it down on the ground so that he could pull the wire attached to his prosthetic arm.

Shortly after he had gotten used to his prosthetic limbs, Kihei had tinkered with them until he'd managed to make them more functional for his needs. He had rigged wires to each prosthetic; for his arm he had attached some wires to his other shoulder so that certain movements would make it possible for him to move the prosthetic more naturally, and extra wires that he had rigged to bend the wooden fingers enough for him to grasp something, though for that he needed to pull the wires manually with his remaining hand; for his leg he simply attached separate wires for each joint that had to be manually pulled for him to bend each one depending on his knees.

Seven years after the incident, at barely nineteen, Kihei still had somewhat limited mobility. He didn't let it get to him, though, knowing that even if he could never see the world as he wished to, he could move about in the woods surrounding his village without any trouble or help necessary. It was enough for him.

Once he'd adjusted his prosthetic arm to support him while he dug out some of the ginger roots, Kihei began digging down into the soil to where they were like a network of roads; many of them, but difficult to separate.

In practiced motions, Kihei sliced several neat pieces of roots from the plant, leaving plenty for it to survive to produce more in the future. He wrapped the roots in a loose scrap of cloth and stowed them away in his pouch. Then he worked at straightening out his prosthetic leg so that he could stand up again, fixing the wires back into their original positions before using a nearby tree to pull himself up.

Kihei checked the rest of the herbs for fresh growth, an unrestrained smile on his freckled face. Finding that none had enough fresh growth for him to collect, he carefully made his way off in another direction, where he could collect some fresh flowers for his home.

It didn't take long for him to reach a small patch of wildflowers. Unfortunately, none had bloomed so far, the buds still growing slowly, not quite ready to burst and expose their petals.

Instead of picking any of the flowers, Kihei glanced up at the sky, watching as the sun began to set, orange streaking the sky. Though it was a beautiful sight, he knew that he needed to be making his way back home, lest the other villagers notice his absence and worry for his safety.

Kihei turned around and began to slowly make his way back, enjoying the noises of the forest and the peace it brought about.

The peace was interrupted by the sound of hushed voices nearby, unfamiliar to Kihei. The way they spoke made him think that they were not civilians, but instead shinobi.

Unbridled fear erupted in Kihei, and he only froze for a moment to catch a few sentences, memories of the last time he had met shinobi rising up inside him.

"We got the bomber, and he won't be able to make it far with the injuries he's received. I heard that the other team got the other one. We're to kill them on sight when we find them."

Kihei couldn't stay still any longer, and he limped as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the shinobi. It wasn't long before he was running as much as he could with a prosthetic, which wasn't much.

Fear clouded his thoughts and vision, and he didn't realize until too late that he was near the cliff that led down into the valley near the Bamboo Village. He slipped on a loose piece of soil, and slipped down the cliff, rolling painfully.

It felt like an eternity before he reached the bottom, where he was stopped by a large boulder. Dazed and dizzy, he couldn't move for several moments. Pain radiated throughout his body, making him worry that he might have broken something.

Kihei managed to sit up after several minutes, reaching up to wipe away blood dripping from his nose. He sat still for a while, heart pounding with a terrible fear as he stared up at the rapidly darkening sky.

Once he'd realized that the shinobi must have gone in a different direction, Kihei began to calm down and checked each of the wires attached to his prosthetics, pulling his pant leg up carefully.

To his relief, only one had snapped. It would be easy to replace, since he always packed spare wires in case of a situation just like this. The moonlight was bright enough that he would have no problem seeing what he was doing.

It took only fifteen minutes for him to replace the wire, with slight modification for the climb he would have to make back up the small valley.

Using a boulder to support himself, Kihei got to his feet, and stuck the end of the wire that he had left unattached between his teeth. He held it tightly enough so that it would remain locked in place when he put pressure on the false limb.

Kihei began to hobble down the valley carefully towards where he knew there was a path that went back up that wasn't too steep for him to climb, especially with the modification he'd made.

It was a challenging walk to the point where he could start climbing back, especially when he slipped in a puddle and went back crashing into the ground.

Kihei sat up carefully and looked down, the bright moonlight illuminating the bright red puddle he had fallen into. He barely managed to choke back the bile that rose up in his throat at the realization that someone must be terribly hurt out here.

Fear of the shinobi that were likely still roaming the woods battled against the worry he had for whoever was hurt out here. It would dangerous to stay out longer while there were shinobi hunting someone, but...he couldn't just leave anyone out overnight in the cold, hurt and likely scared…

His worry won out over his fear, and Kihei slowly got back up, steeling his heart with determination. He would find whoever was out here hurt, and take them back home so that they could recover.

Kihei didn't have far to go before he found the unfortunate soul that had been hurt. They were sprawled out against a boulder, long blonde hair dyed red with the blood that was spilling from their missing arm.

All around them was debris from what looked like a life-sized puppet. Beside the blonde stranger was the head of said puppet, hair a different shade than the blood it was sitting in, eyes closed. Nearby sat a battered cylinder, leaking something that looked an awful lot like blood.

Unable to keep himself back any longer, Kihei limped over to the wounded stranger that wore a tattered black cloak with red clouds. He dropped to his knees, jerking his head to the side with the wire to bend his prosthetic knee.

He leaned close and dug around in his pouch for the roll of bandages he kept with him in case of emergencies. Finding it, he carefully placed his prosthetic hand on the man's shoulder to keep him still in case he woke, while he unrolled and wrapped the bandages around what was left of his arm.

Blood immediately began soaking through, but it would soon begin to clot with the bandages keeping a certain amount of pressure on the wound.

Kihei leaned back for a moment before checking to make sure that the man didn't have any other life threatening injuries, and bandaging up the ones he found in the same way he had with his arm.

Once he had made sure that the man wouldn't bleed out in the time it took to examine everything around him, Kihei turned his attention to the puppet head and the leaking cylinder. He carefully picked the cylinder up and examined it.

Broken pieces of wood and shards of metal had penetrated it part way, and it looked as if it belonged to the same puppet that was lying in pieces all over the valley.

A strange compulsion overwhelming him, Kihei lifted the cylinder to his ear, nearly dropping it when he heard the unexpected sound it emitted.

A heartbeat; weak and stuttering, and quickly fading.

Panic overwhelmed Kihei, and he set the cylinder down in his lap and placed one hand over it. It took him a moment to remember what the village healer had told him what to do in the case of a medical emergency that needed more than just bandages or medicine.

A flickering green glow surrounded his hand, steadying once he remembered that the healer had also told him that he would need to keep his panic to a minimum, lest he accidentally do more harm than good with the lack of focus that came with his tendency to panic in high stress situations.

At first there was no change, and Kihei feared that he may not have gotten there fast enough to save...what exactly was it that he was trying to save? From all appearances, it looked as if he were trying to save some sort of living puppet…

Shaking off his curiosity, he focused his energy on steadying the heartbeat within. It was a relief when it worked well enough for it to remain beating.

Kihei set his hand down, suddenly feeling exhausted. The glow faded and he let out a small sigh.

Calming down somewhat, he had the presence of mind to wonder how on earth he was going to get the injured man back home, as well as the salvageable pieces of the puppet man. It would surely be too dangerous to ask the other villagers for help, as they tended to be extremely hostile towards strangers. He couldn't just leave them here, though…

Letting out a deep sigh, he carefully wrapped the cylinder in the remaining bandages to keep it from receiving any further damage and gently placed it in his pouch with the ginger.

Then he very gently picked up the puppet's head, frowning as he stared at its youthful face. It wouldn't do well to question any of this, especially since the blonde man still needed more help that Kihei could not give him until he was back at home.

Kihei let out a small sigh and took off his hooded jacket, carefully placing the puppet head in the soft fabric. He made sure to twist it so that the head wouldn't fall out when he tied the the sleeves around his waist in a makeshift pouch.

Once he was sure that the head was secured, he staggered to his feet, loosening the tension on the wire in his mouth that had his knee bent just enough for him to put his weight on that leg.

Using the boulder to support himself, Kihei considered his options for getting the blonde man back to the village.

Hypothetically, if he could get his prosthetic arm under the man's arm, he could lock it and half drag him back up the valley. It was all that he could think up, since carrying him was out of the question.

Deciding to go with that option, Kihei leaned down, clumsily slipping his prosthetic under the man's armpit. He jerked his good shoulder, locking the wire into place.

Kihei lifted the man up halfway, grunting at the effort. It seemed to work for the moment, and deciding that he should get going before his strength failed him, he began hobbling towards the path that would lead up out of the valley.

It was slow going, but Kihei managed to the path, and then up to the top of the valley. Chest heaving with the effort, he didn't stop once he reached the top, worried that if he did, he wouldn't be able to keep going.

Kihei slipped in through the bamboo shield behind his house, knowing that he wouldn't be seen there, like he would if he tried going in through the main path.

Careful not to let the man slip from his grip, he opened the back door into his house and slipped inside. It was dark, just as he had left it.

Kihei carefully dragged the man towards the small room where his bed was, managing to lay him down in it with as much care that was possible. Then he tucked the man in and left him to rest.

Out in the kitchen, he sat at the rickety table and set the puppet's head in the center, unwrapping the strange cylinder with a heartbeat and placing it next to the head. Then he sighed and rested his own head in his good arm on the table.

Exhaustion overwhelmed him and he was out like a light in a matter of seconds, completely unaware of what the future would hold for him because of his entirely too kind actions.


Author's Note: Hey! Welcome! Originally I wasn't planning on posting any other fics until I was finished with Remnants, but I needed something a little lighter in tone to write, and so that's why I'm posting this! Remnants is still my priority, but I will definitely be working on this as well! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!

Also, for those of you who don't know, kintsukuroi (translates roughly to 'golden repair'), also known as kintsugi, is the art form of repairing broken pottery with different materials, such as lacquer mixed with powdered gold or silver. It's a bit of a difficult process, but it's beautiful once it's done.

Thanks for reading!